Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu at Hyderabad House on 15th Jan. 2018.Express photo by Renuka Puri.

Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister, Professor K VijayRaghavan, held discussions with Dani Gold, Head of the Directorate of R&D in Israel’s Ministry of Defence on scientific cooperation between the two countries to address Covid-19.

The discussions were also attended by Israel Ambassador to India Dr Ron Malka and Indian ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla and officials of CSIR and DRDO.

The discussion is the first of a series of meetings which will take place over the coming weeks to exchange technology and scientific know-how to combat Covid-19.

“I’m proud to connect brilliant minds from India and Israel so they can jointly develop life changing solutions for the whole world, and especially in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,’’ Dr Malka tweeted.

CSIR DG Dr Shekhar Mande said the meeting was more of an ice-breaker. “We will be collaborating on a number of aspects of the pandemic. The areas are still being worked out and we will get a clearer picture as the meetings progress.’’

Officials in the Ministry of Science and Technology said Monday’s discussions were centered around research and development for rapid diagnosis, based on big data and AI technology “to enable a rapid return to normal’’.

A Ministry statement said the discussions on Monday are “a part of the vision of the Israeli and Indian Prime Ministers for a wide ranging scientific cooperation’’ between the countries.